Ocean Art

Images of sailors and vessels appear in the traditional media of painting and drawing, but also in the decorative arts, utilitarian items, ephemeral objects, even carved in rock walls of mountains and deserts. Museums, of course, are predictable sources for these works, but they can also be found in expressions of popular culture, past and present, in fiction and non-fiction, in films, poetry and song.

Krisanne Baker is an activist and ecological artist. Her paintings, drawings, printmaking, and installations are concerned with water quality, fresh water availability, and water rights. Her artist statement reads as such: "My work as an ecological artist and activist conceptualizes concern for humanities’ unsustainable practices and the vulnerability of water -- from the local to the global..."

California created the nation’s first statewide network of 124 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) stretching from Oregon to the Mexico border. Soon after the system was established, photographer Jasmine Swope set out to capture the essence of the marine parks. The result is “Our Ocean’s Edge,” a photo-documentary project paired with narratives written by author Dwight Holing. The project captures the fragility and beauty of the MPAs in the hope that the project will increase awareness about their benefit and necessity and will inspire further conservation action and public will.

Here you will find a survey of artistic representations of Mami Wata, an African goddess of the sea, by Dr. Henry John Drewal, a colorful portfolio of artistic representations of this sea spirit who has found her way into the material and religious culture of Africa and the African diaspora.

Deep Water
Ran Ortner is a New York artist, painter, sculptor and print maker. His work consists of paintings of the ocean on large canvases as much as 8-feet high by 30-feet long. No land, no sky, no boats, no point of reference. These are gorgeous tapestries: we hope you'll have a look.

Sound artist Halsey Burgund and marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols joined forces to collect the voices of people around the world as they recount personal experiences with the ocean. Combined with music written by Halsey, the voices become an integral part of a new musical composition and audio collages which listeners can modify to suit their own preferences.

Artist Laurent Costa uses a microscope to capture the pure essence of water, to look at it in a pure state and find magic in the present moment. Laurent has said, "The hour is for the awareness of our world heritage. The purpose of this project is to educate about the protection or our water systems and to have a better understanding of water by such simple gestures.

One man's artistic vision: this museum off the coast of Cancun has nearly 500 sculptures sunken in up to 10 meters of water-a vital tourist attraction but also a front line in conservation as it diverts divers from Mexico's fragile coral reef. CNN video.

Cape Farewell brings artists, scientists and educators together to collectively address and raise awareness about climate change. Created by David Buckland, Cape Farewell has led three expeditions into the wild, beautiful and icy High Arctic, a place for artistic inspiration and scientific enquiry.

This gallery at Britain’s National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, offers an overview of the sea in European visual culture from the 16th to 21st centuries.

American Society of Marine Artists
A gallery of members' work is an outstanding feature of this site on contemporary American marine art. ASMA is a membership organization aiming to recognize and promote marine art and history, and to encourage the interests of artists, historians, marine enthusiasts and others.

The Institute For Figuring is crocheting a coral reef: a woolly celebration of the intersection of higher geometry and feminine handicraft, and a testimony to the disappearing wonders of the marine world.

Arden Scott's environment provides much of the inspiration for her artwork, which most recently has centered on the creation of elegantly simplified sculptures of boats, canoes and other pleasure craft.

The Australian National Maritime Museum's display of its renowned Saltwater Collection... eighty spectacular Indigenous bark paintings that double as legal documents. All of these works were painted by artists among the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land in the late 1990s to explain their traditional ties with the region's coastal zone - their 'saltwater country.' Click here for image gallery.